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Island Of Dolls

let’s be honest for half a second; We’ve all heard of supposed actual haunted houses and even homes where people were actually murdered — the list goes on when it comes to the topic of “real horror”. But what about a “man-made” island in Xochimilco, Mexico known only as “La Isla de las Muñecas“ or more commonly: The Island Of The Dolls? Through-out the pictures I will be sharing about La Isla de las Muñecas, you’ll notice that there are dolls hanging from the trees, while sometimes they’re found hanging from clotheslines like clothing left to dry on a hot summer’s day. Other times, you’ll find yourself tripping over the ones on the ground. Their [now] dead eyes will stare at you from empty sockets with their dirty hair hanging like loose strings. Their skin is grossly scabbed and decaying, their broken off limbs can be found scattered everywhere— there’s even decapitated doll heads impaled on stakes! It’s nightmare fuel at it’s finest — with hundreds of dolls just hanging about! This is noneother than the infamous Island Of The Dolls. But questions remain; what’s the hell is the deal with this place?

Don Julián Santana and one of his [many] dolls

It all starts with this man, Don Julián Santana. He was once the owner of the quiet island and was a local farmer in the area. According to legend, [just to make it scarier of course] He watched a young girl drown in a canal, presumably on the island, and since then has claimed she has been haunting the island. As an almost “protection” from her spirit, Don Julián began collecting dolls from trash bins, small bazaars, or/and anywhere he could get his hands on them. As he gathered the dolls, he started hanging them from trees like a demented, creepy Christmas Tree.. It was only when he ran out of branches [that’s a lot of trees] that he started just scattering them about the island; including decapitated dolls on fences. Over the span of 50 years, he had collected over 1,500 dolls for his island! His first doll is actually still there, it can be found in the shed closest to the entrance to the island — naturally, because of it’s age, it’s probably the creepiest thing doll on the island, [in my opinion] looking like the corpse of a child: as seen below.

even the hat looks chewed up..50 years can do that to you.

Unfortunately, Santana died of a heart attack back in 2001, there’s a small white cross near the shore on the island which marks his grave. His cousin Anastasio, actually now lives on the island, running it as a [fairly popular] tourist attraction. Anastasio claims that The spirit of the little girl is still there, It’s important not to remove the dolls. But probably the creepiest thing he has said [in interviews, and what not] is that at night, these dolls come alive! I think Anastasio said it best when he said:

“They will move their heads and whisper to each other. It’s very spooky, but I have gotten used to it..”

Assuming you’re wanting to visit La Isla de las Muñecas, it takes about two hours by boat and leads you through quiet green lands where wild animals can be found living peacefully. It’s far off from the craziness that is Mexico City, considering it’s a sprawling capital has roughly 9 million people. On the island though, the only people calling it home are Anastasio and his cousin’s 1,500 dolls.

Would you ever visit La Isla de las Muñecas? Why or why not? [this is assuming you haven’t already: if you have, that’s fucking cool!] I think it’d be really interesting, especially for the ‘creepy’ factor — though, I think Stephanie would be against the idea of going, as she’d probably find it too creepy.